Alpine Treeline Dynamics and the Special Exposure Effect in the Hengduan Mountains

Alpine treeline is highly sensitive to climate change, but there remains a lack of research on the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of treeline and their relationships with climate change at the landscape scale. We extracted positions of alpine treeline from high-resolution Google Earth images from three periods (2000, 2010, and 2020) and analyzed the elevation patterns and dynamics of treeline positions in the Hengduan Mountains. Based on the treeline positions in 2020, a buffer zone of 300 m is established as the treeline transition zone, and the changing trend of the fraction vegetation cover (FVC) from 2000 to 2020 and its relationship with climate are also analyzed. Due to the special geographical and climatic environment, the treeline in the Hengduan Mountains area is high in the middle but lower in the surrounding areas. We found that over the past 20 years, the treeline position did not change significantly but that the FVC increased in 80.3% of the treeline areas. The increase in FVC was related to the decrease in precipitation in the growing season. The results also revealed a special exposure effect on the alpine treeline in the Hengduan Mountains. Because of the lower treeline, isotherm position caused by the monsoon climate, the treeline position on south-facing slopes is lower than that on slopes with other exposures. Our results confirmed that the pattern and dynamics of the alpine treeline are driven by the regional monsoon climate regime.

Automated summary

This study extracted the positions of alpine treeline from high-resolution images and analyzed their patterns and dynamics. The results showed that the treeline position remained stable over the past 20 years, but vegetation cover increased, which was related to decreased precipitation. The study also revealed the influence of geographical and climatic factors on the alpine treeline.